Transparent citizens, police state, totalitarian rule: The catchphrases used to describe China’s Social Credit System (SCS) are oftentimes lurid. China has announced to introduce a rating system by 2020, which measures and expresses the social behaviour of citizens and companies. Is the system the Orwellian nightmare that Western media often depict it as, or is the story more complicated?

In a live recording of the Sinica Podcast, host Kaiser Kuo will discuss the Social Credit System with two active China watchers. One is Manya Koetse, editor-in-chief of What’s on Weibo, an independent news site reporting on China’s social media, dynamic digital developments, and the trends that are shaping the present and future of Chinese culture & society. Together with Rogier Creemers, researcher on China's digital governance policies, and China's role in global Internet and cyber affairs at Leiden University. He just received a multi-year grant for a project that aims to study the development of a smart, IT-enabled state system in China.

Want to come prepared? Then read our summer series on the Social Credit System interviewing each speaker and Mirjam Meissner, Senior Analyst at Sinolytics. Or download our factsheet with our key learnings.

ABOUT THE PODCAST

The Sinica Podcast was founded in 2010 in Beijing by Kaiser Kuo and Jeremy Goldkorn of SupChina. It is a weekly discussion covering topics from politics to pop culture to economics, all in relation to China. Guests ­range from journalists, writers, academics, policy makers, business people to anyone with something compelling to say about the country that is reshaping the world.

Kaiser Kuo is the co-host of the Sinica Podcast, founded in 2010. He was born in New York to parents originally from China and lived in Beijing from the late 1980s until 2016. There he co-founded the Heavy Metal band Tang Dynasty—a band that went on to considerable success during the 1990s. He has also been working as an editor, a tech sector reporter and a communications professional (serving as director of international communications for Youku, a leading Internet video site in China, and for Baidu, China’s leading search engine).

Manya Koetse is a China social trend watcher and the editor-in-chief of What’s on Weibo, a website providing social, cultural & historical insights into an ever-changing China, with a focus on online media and digital developments, popular culture and gender issues. She also works as a consultant, researcher, and public speaker on (consumer) behavior, social trends, digital developments & new media in China.

 

Rogier Creemers is a researcher in the law and governance of China at Leiden University. He holds degrees in Sinology and International Relations, and a doctorate in Law. His research focuses especially on the Chinese government’s approach to governance and technology, as well as China’s participation in global cyber affairs. Creemers has received a Vidi grant from the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research for a project on the Chinese smart state. He is also a co-founder of DigiChina, an initiative based at New America to provide greater insights in China’s digital policies.

Image on top: Carlos Adampol Galindo on Flickr / CC BY-SA 2.0